Volunteering is a priceless experience for young people

In her therapy practice at Orlando’s Gilstrap & Associates, Ashley Camblin counsels plenty of kids and preteens, some as young as 6. It’s a tricky time of life when parents face the challenge of changing a child’s classic attitude — “it’s all about me” — to something more mature. Enter volunteerism.

“I see lots of kids come in with an entitlement mentality where they want everything on a silver platter,” Camblin said. “Seeing someone who doesn’t have it as good — whether it’s at a homeless shelter or a resort like the Give Kids the World, where the kids struggle with their health — gives them a chance to see what blessings they have.”

From there, it’s a much shorter step to turn nascent feelings of empathy into action. “If you can help them get involved via volunteerism, it just helps them develop a spirit of selflessness and compassion,” Camblin said.

Finding a volunteer opportunity may seem intimidating, especially if you’ve got kids who’d rather stay glued to their video games. But for parents hoping to get their kids off the couch, a volunteer stint gets them out of the house and into something socially and personally valuable.

Sometimes, all it takes is a story about another kid to get the wheels turning. Alexandra "Alex" Scott was diagnosed with neuroblastoma before her second birthday. By age 4, she started a lemonade stand to help other cancer sufferers like her, raising $2,000 in the first year.

By the time she passed away at age 8, Alex, with the help of others from around the world, helped raise more than $1 million to help find a cure for the disease that took her life. Her shining example is one all kids can understand, said Liz Scott, Alex’s mother and co-executive director of Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.

“Alex could be very shy at times, but when she held her lemonade stand — and in the days and weeks afterward — she’d have this positive glow about her,” Scott recalled. “Spending the day volunteering made her feel good about herself and gave her confidence that she could make a difference in the world.”

Just as Alex felt strongly about helping cancer patients like herself, Scott said that it’s important for parents to “choose something that their children are passionate about and use that to get them volunteering. For instance, if your child loves animals, have them volunteer their time for an animal-related charity.”

In the central Florida area, opportunities abound to get in on the action. Girl Up, the United Nations Foundation’s adolescent girl campaign, has an Orlando-based club where the aim is to support adolescent females in some of the world’s most troubled places — regions where violence, disease and lack of education run rampant.

“Volunteering helps children to be better prepared for the future and sets them on a path of public service and giving back,” said Melissa Hillebrenner, director of Girl Up. “It also exposes kids to people from different backgrounds and life experiences, giving them perspective and deepening their connection to the wider world.”

Though kids may be lured into volunteering with the promise of making a difference for others, they also benefit. They gain a sense of identity that helps them stand tall in social situations and resist peer pressure.

“It has a tremendous impact on preteens, as it shapes their sense of self, their character and their interests during a pivotal time in their lives,” Hillebrenner said.

The hardest part may be prying kids off screens, said Jerry Schecter, a Chicago-based psychologist who works with gifted children. “It’s tough. It seems like video screens are very addictive,” he said. “But it’s worthwhile to set up some scenarios where volunteering can happen.”

For example, you might drive or walk past one of your own volunteering haunts — on purpose. “Then you say, ‘Maybe we can stop in for a few moments and you can come with me.’ That way they get a taste of the experience. And if you can then set up a scenario where they actually volunteer, it’s a win-win.”

Volunteering gives some kids a chance to sharpen their leadership skills. “Students learn how to become leaders and work as a team,” said Patrick Messenger, a spokesman for Lead2Feed, a program that aims to solve world hunger by teaching leadership skills to students. “Preteens participating in Lead2Feed have to work together to determine who or what will benefit from their specific program, and which ones among them will take on specific roles.”

That’s far more enriching than making the leader board on Angry Birds. Besides, there aren’t any volunteer opportunities of note that involve kids and massive video game marathons. Then again, maybe your son or daughter can start a fundraiser that way.